Author: chicagoinquirer

by John Gambrell and Julia Nikhinson DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  — U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that Iran proposed negotiations after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown targeting demonstrators there, a move coming as activists said the death toll in protests rose to at least 544. Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of…

by Rebecca Santana MINNEAPOLIS  — Thousands of people marched in Minneapolis on Saturday to protest the fatal shooting of a woman by a federal immigration officer there and the shooting of two people in Portland, Oregon. Minnesota leaders urged demonstrators to remain peaceful. The protest was one of hundreds planned for towns and cities across the country over the weekend. It came in a city on edge since the killing of Renee Good on Wednesday by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. “We’re all living in fear right now,” said Meghan Moore, a mother of two from Minneapolis who joined…

by Jay Cohen CHICAGO  — At the very end of his seventh season as Green Bay’s coach, Matt LaFleur saw a team that lacked composure at big moments in a playoff game. It was an all-too-familiar scene for the Packers — one that will follow LaFleur for a long time. “We’ve got to look at it. We’ve got to talk. There’s a lot of pieces,” he said. “All you’re trying to do in the moment is, when mistakes are made, you’re correcting them. There’s not long discussions on the sideline. It’s just you correct the mistakes and you try to…

by Andrew Seligman CHICAGO — Caleb Williams came through in his playoff debut, throwing a go-ahead, 25-yard touchdown pass to DJ Moore with 1:43 remaining, and the Chicago Bears rallied from an 18-point deficit to beat the rival Green Bay Packers 31-27 in a wild-card playoff game on Saturday night. The NFC North champion Bears (12-6) extended their resurgent first season under coach Ben Johnson with their seventh fourth-quarter comeback victory. They split two down-to-the-wire games with Green Bay in the regular season, and this one turned out to be a thriller when it looked like it would be a…

CHICAGO  — Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards was carted off the field with a left ankle injury in the first half of Saturday night’s playoff game against the Green Bay Packers. Edwards went down early in the second quarter after his left foot got caught up with the leg of Packers receiver Christian Watson and bent awkwardly. He was fitted with an air cast before he was carted away. The Bears said Edwards would not return. The 29-year-old Edwards was limited to 10 games during the regular season because of injuries. He returned an interception 34 yards for a touchdown in…

by Stephen Groves WASHINGTON  — For House Republicans, the political year started with a pep rallyof sorts as President Donald Trump gathered them at Washington’s Kennedy Center for a stemwinder of a speech. But by the time lawmakers had completed their first week of work this midterm election year, fractures in the party were already showing. From pushback to Trump’s self-described “Donroe doctrine” of aggression in the Western Hemisphere to breaks in party unity over health care, Republican lawmakers are displaying signs of independence from Trump after spending much of the last year acquiescing to his practically every demand. It…

by Mathew Lee and Farnoush Amiri WASHINGTON  — The Trump administration will withdraw from dozens of international organizations, including the U.N.’s population agency and the U.N. treaty that establishes international climate negotiations, as the U.S. further retreats from global cooperation. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order suspending U.S. support for 66 organizations, agencies, and commissions, following his administration’s review of participation in and funding for all international organizations, including those affiliated with the United Nations, according to a White House release. Many of the targets are U.N.-related agencies, commissions and advisory panels that focus on climate, labor,…

by Agency Reports DETROIT (AP) — Isaiah Stewart scored a career-high 31 points to help the short-handed Detroit Pistons beat the Chicago Bulls 108-93 on Wednesday night. Detroit won for the fourth time in five games despite playing without All-Star Cade Cunningham (wrist) and fellow starters Tobias Harris (hip) and Jalen Duren (ankle). Stewart, who had his previous best of 26 points against Memphis on Nov. 3, scored 11 points in the first quarter. Two-way player Daniss Jenkins added six rebounds and a career-high 15 assists. Ayo Dosunmu had 24 points for Chicago, which has lost three straight. Nikola Vucevic…

by Janie McCauley SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Steve Kerr upset his mother. Ann Kerr was mortified by the behavior of her 60-year-old coaching son, for the first time in quite a while. She didn’t approve of Kerr’s ejection in the fourth quarter of a one-point loss to the Clippers on Monday night, when the Warriors coach was held back from the officials by Gary Payton II, Gui Santos and assistant Terry Stotts. “All good other than my mom being terribly disappointed in me,” Kerr said of his 91-year-old mom before Golden State’s home game Wednesday against Milwaukee. “She was at…

by Jan Cohen LAKE FOREST, Ill.  — The Chicago Bears trailed at halftime in four of their last five regular-season games. They haven’t scored on their first offensive drive since Week 9 at Cincinnati. That’s a big concern for the NFC North champions going into the franchise’s first playoff appearance since the 2020 season. “There’s a process I believe in in terms of how we prepare these guys,” Chicago coach Ben Johnson said Tuesday. “I think we’ve got a lot of great professionals, and I think any time that you bring attention to something, that they look to fix it.…